• Applied Microscopy
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.95-103
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• 2012

The cell surface sculpture of the plant epidermis has received great interest recently. It has also been an active area of research, as the biological microstructures of the surface, such as papillae and waxes, exhibit several unique properties, including self-cleaning character; namely the "Lotus effect" first described in the leaves of the lotus, Nelumbo nucifera. The Lotus effect is the phenomenon in which the super-hydrophobic and water-repellent nature of lotus leaves allow water drops to run off easily on the surface in a rolling and sliding motion thereby facilitating the removal of dirt particles. It is well-known that surface roughness on the micro- and nanoscale is a primary characteristic allowing for the Lotus effect. This effect is common among plants and is of great technological importance, since it can be applied industrially in numerous fields. In the present study, Nelumbo nucifera leaf and stem epidermal surfaces have been examined with a focus on the features of papillae and wax crystalloids. Both young and mature Nelumbo nucifera leaf epidermis demonstrated the Lotus effect on their entire epidermal surface. The central area of the upper epidermis, in particular, formed extremely papillose surfaces, with an additional wax layer, enabling greater water repellency. Despite the presence of wax crystalloids, epidermal surfaces of the lower leaf and stem lacking papillae, were much more easily wetted.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.124-128
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• 2012

Leaf surface structures were investigated in the Chinese juniper Juniperus chinensis by scanning electron microscopy. Adult scale leaves were collected from the tree, air-dried at room temperature, and sputter-coated with gold without further specimen preparation. Approximately fi ve stomata were locally distributed and arranged in clusters on the leaf surface. Stomata were ovoid and ca. 40 ${\mu}m$ long. The epicuticular wax structures of J. chinensis leaves were tubules and platelets. Numerous tubules were evident on the leaf regions where stomata were found. The tubules were cylindrical, straight, and ca. 1 ${\mu}m$ in length. They almost clothed the stomatal guard cells, and occluded the slit-shaped stomatal apertures. Moreover, the wax ridges were flat crystalloids that were connected to the surface by their narrow side. They did not have distinct edges, and their width/height ratio varied. In particular, the wax ridges could be discerned on the leaf regions where stomata were not present nearby. Since the wax ridges did not have distinct edges on their margin, they were identified as platelets. Instances were noted where platelets were oriented either parallel to each other or perpendicular to the cuticle surface. These results can be used in biomimetics to design the hierarchical structures for mimicking the plant innate properties such as hydrophobicity and self-cleaning effects of the leaf surface.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.389-390
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• 2012

In this study, we fabricate a superhydrophobic surface made of hierarchical nanostructures that combine wax crystalline structure with moth-eye structure using vacuum cluster system and measure their hydrophobicity and durability. Since the lotus effect was found, much work has been done on studying self-cleaning surface for decades. The surface of lotus leaf consists of multi-level layers of micro scale papillose epidermal cells and epicuticular wax crystalloids [1]. This hierarchical structure has superhydrophobic property because the sufficiently rough surface allows air pockets to form easily below the liquid, the so-called Cassie state, so that the relatively small area of water/solid interface makes the energetic cost associated with corresponding water/air interfaces smaller than the energy gained [2]. Various nanostructures have been reported for fabricating the self-cleaning surface but in general, they have the problem of low durability. More than two nanostructures on a surface can be integrated together to increase hydrophobicity and durability of the surface as in the lotus leaf [3,5]. As one of the bio-inspired nanostructures, we introduce a hierarchical nanostructure fabricated with a high vacuum cluster system. A hierarchical nanostructure is a combination of moth-eye structure with an average pitch of 300 nm and height of 700 nm, and the wax crystalline structure with an average width and height of 200 nm. The moth-eye structure is fabricated with deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) process. $SiO_2$ layer is initially deposited on a glass substrate using PECVD in the cluster system. Then, Au seed layer is deposited for a few second using DC sputtering process to provide stochastic mask for etching the underlying $SiO_2$ layer with ICP-RIE so that moth-eye structure can be fabricated. Additionally, n-hexatriacontane paraffin wax ($C_{36}H_{74}$) is deposited on the moth-eye structure in a thermal evaporator and self-recrystallized at $40^{\circ}C$ for 4h [4]. All of steps are conducted utilizing vacuum cluster system to minimize the contamination. The water contact angles are measured by tensiometer. The morphology of the surface is characterized using SEM and AFM and the reflectance is measured by spectrophotometer.